Effect of corticosteroids on c-reactive protein in patients with severe community-acquired pneumonia and high inflammatory response

Background: Lymphopenic patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) have shown high mortality rates. Corticosteroids have immunomodulatory properties and regulate cytokine storm in CAP. However, it is not known whether their modulatory effect on cytokine secretion differs in lymphopenic and non...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Torres, Antoni|||0000-0002-8643-2167, Ceccato, Adrian|||0000-0001-9454-062X, Ferrer, Miquel|||0000-0001-8171-6673, Gabarrús, Albert|||0000-0003-3492-1310, Sibila, Oriol|||0000-0002-4833-6713, Cilloniz, Catia|||0000-0002-4646-9838, Méndez, Raúl|||0000-0001-6300-9836, Menéndez Villanueva, Rosario|||0000-0002-3592-3839, Bermejo-Martin, Jesus F.|||0000-0002-7998-6268, Niederman, Michael S.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2019
País:España
Institución:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:286557
Acceso en línea:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/286557
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.3390/jcm8091461
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Pneumonia
Corticosteroids
Inflammatory response
Descripción
Sumario:Background: Lymphopenic patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) have shown high mortality rates. Corticosteroids have immunomodulatory properties and regulate cytokine storm in CAP. However, it is not known whether their modulatory effect on cytokine secretion differs in lymphopenic and non-lymphopenic patients with CAP. Therefore, we aimed to test whether the presence of lymphopenia may modify the response to corticosteroids (mainly in C reactive protein (CRP)) in patients with severe CAP and high inflammatory status). Methods: A post hoc analysis of a randomized controlled trial [1] (NCT00908713) which evaluated the effect of corticosteroids in patients with severe CAP and high inflammatory response (CRP > 15 mg/dL). Patients were clustered according to the presence of lymphopenia (lymphocyte count below 1000 cell/mm). Results: At day 1, 35 patients (59%) in the placebo group presented with lymphopenia, compared to 44 patients (73%) in the corticosteroid group. The adjusted mean changes from day 1 showed an increase of 1.19 natural logarithm (ln) cell/mm in the corticosteroid group and an increase of 0.67 ln cell/mm in the placebo group (LS mean difference of the changes in ln (methylprednisolone minus placebo) 0.51, 95%CI (0.02 to 1.01), p = 0.043). A significant effect was also found for the interaction (p = 0.043) between corticosteroids and lymphopenia in CRP values at day 3, with lower values in patients without lymphopenia receiving corticosteroids after adjustments for potential confounders. Conclusion: In this exploratory post hoc analysis from ramdomized controlled trial (RCT) data, the response to corticosteroids, measured by CRP, may differ according to lymphocyte count. Further larger studies are needed to confirm this data.